Washington Huskies win in 10th to advance to CWS for first time
FULLERTON, Calif. – Before Sunday, Washington was the only team in the tradition-rich Pac-12 to never make it to the College World Series.
The Huskies finally are going to Omaha.
Kaiser Weiss’ bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning gave Washington a 6-5 win over host Cal State Fullerton in a wild Game 3 of their NCAA Tournament best-of-three super regional.
The Huskies join fellow Pac-12 member Oregon State in the CWS starting Saturday.
“This weekend, we’ve been working this whole year for it,” said Weiss, wearing a “Destination Omaha” cap moments after the game. “We always say, ‘Omaha no matter what.’ We grind it and we just wanted the opportunity. We had the opportunity and we seized it. It’s a team effort, all around, everyone.”
Washington was cruising along against Fullerton with Joe DeMers carrying a perfect game until Hank LoForte doubled leading off the seventh inning.
The Titans scored three runs in the ninth to go up 4-3, but Washington got the run back in the bottom half. LoForte barely cleared the right-field wall with two outs in the top of the 10th for his second home run of the season and a one-run lead for Fullerton. But two errors in the bottom half allowed Washington to load the bases before Weiss lifted his winning sacrifice fly to left.